All language subtitles for Unsolved.Mysteries.S01E15.480p.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-PLAYREADY_track3_[und]

NARRATOR: This program is
about unsolved mysteries.

Whenever possible, the
actual family members

and police officials
have participated

in recreating the events.

What you are about to see
is not a news broadcast.

ROBERT STACK: In
September of 1979,

19-year-old Micki West
vanished without a trace.

Exactly seven
years later, a note

was found from someone
who claimed to have

witnessed Micki's murder.

But his identity
remains unknown.

Between 1890 and 1920,
thousands of homeless children

rode orphan trains to new
families in the Midwest.

Today, many want to
find the brothers

and sisters they never knew.

In 1967, a five-year-old boy
fell into a rain-swollen creek

in Nutley, New Jersey.

Two months later,
his body was found

in the river three miles away.

In 1974, a New York banker
boarded a commuter train

to take him home to New Jersey.

During the train
ride, he vanished.

Two months later,
his body was found

on the bank of a nearby river.

In 1976, a
14-year-old schoolgirl

left her home on Staten Island
to look for a summer job.

That afternoon, she disappeared.

Two years later, her body was
found in an abandoned shipyard.

What links these cases together
is Dorothy Allison, a housewife

from Nutley, New Jersey.

She predicted where all three
bodies would be found, what

happened to the victims, and,
remarkably, in two cases,

predicted when they
would be discovered.

Dorothy Allison
and the authorities

with whom she has worked
claim she has psychic powers.

In my lifetime, this is the
most amazing thing that ever

happened to me-- to see the
ultimate results of everything

that she had said.

It's as though I turned on a
TV station and got a picture.

And this is what I get when
I get a vision of something

or a place or a
person or anything.

It's as though you're turning
on-- tuning in on a TV set.

Dorothy Allison is
called almost daily

by police detectives.

And although she's
never paid for her work,

she's been asked to help in
hundreds of investigations.

In the next hour, we'll
follow Dorothy Allison

on a current murder
investigation

and explore two other
unsolved mysteries.

I'll also tell you
how our viewers

helped capture a murder suspect
and his teenage girlfriend.

Join me.

You may be able to
help solve a mystery.

[theme music]

On the morning of
September 11, 1979,

in the small town of
St. Joseph, Missouri,

a young woman named Micki
Jo West left for work.

She was never seen
again Her friends

and family suspect foul play.

But her body has
never been found.

I think I know what
happened to Micki.

I think I know who did it.

And I think I know
why they did it.

We have a suspect that
we established the day

after the disappearance.

We've talked to
him several times.

We know where he lives now.

We know where we can reach him.

We just simply have no evidence
against him at this point.

I believe that this
person who's described

as a number one suspect-- I
believe that he abducted her.

And within two or three
hours of that time,

I believe he killed her.

ROBERT STACK: At the time
of her disappearance,

Micki Jo West was 19 years old.

She was an outgoing,
friendly girl,

who worked as a nurse's aide at
the St. Joseph State Hospital.

She was funny.

She could make a bad
situation into a good one.

When I had bad days, and I was
at my worst end, she'd come in.

And everything would be
all right, because she'd

say something funny.

ROBERT STACK: Micki
became involved

in the bitter marital dispute
of a friend of hers-- perhaps

too involved.

She began to receive threats.

The last time I talked
to Micki on the phone,

she was scared.

She was afraid for her life.

So she told me she
was going to carry

a hammer to work with her.

That next morning, she
got up and left her house

and was on her way
to the bus stop.

And that was the last that
anyone ever heard from her.

At this point, the only case
we have is a missing person.

We have no crime.

We have a missing person.

We have no body to
establish a murder case.

Without a body, we cannot
convict anyone of murder.

We have evidence that there
were threats made to Micki,

that she was followed
by this person,

that he had a motive to do this,
that he could have done this.

We just need the body.

ROBERT STACK: For seven years,
no new evidence was found.

Then, in 1986, a delivery
man at a Kansas City

shopping mall 75 miles
from where she disappeared

found a letter.

It was addressed to
the St. Joseph police.

He opened it and read,
"I need your help.

I was with--" and
here, we cannot mention

the person's name--
"when he killed

Micki Jo West and hid the body.

I can kill myself now.

Please help."

This letter was unsigned.

TIMOTHY SCHWEDER: About a
month later, on October 2nd,

another note is found
in the same mall.

A security guard who
worked in the mall

found this note in
a hallway there.

It was obviously the same
envelope, the same paper.

Obviously, it was
the same person.

It had the same message on it.

And it, too, was delivered to
the police in Overland Park

and then eventually
to our department.

Both of the notes named
the man who has been

and is now the prime suspect.

The author in these notes said
that he was with the person who

had killed her, that he
did not kill her himself,

that he could not stand
this knowledge that he had,

and that he needed help.

They were both inside.

And so far, we have not
come up with any solid leads

as to who the author is.

ROBERT STACK: Seven weeks later,
three more letters were found,

this time in St. Joseph-- the
town where Micki was last seen.

The first of these was
discovered in a shopping mall.

The same day, another was
found at a local truck stop.

Then, a janitor found another
letter in the same St.

Joseph shopping mall.

After the three notes
were found in St. Joseph,

we had a total of five notes--
all established to be from

the same author, all
saying the same message,

naming the same suspect, but
getting us no closer to making

the case or proving
the case against this

person than we were before.

We've explored the possibility
that the notes are a hoax.

But we believe they're genuine
because of the details that he

has given us about the
crime, because of the way

they are written, because of
the feelings that they express.

They just seem realistic.

When we examined these
letters, it was obvious to us

that the person who wrote them
was intimidated by the person

who killed Micki Jo.

These weren't letters
written by a stranger.

They were written by
someone who was personally

acquainted with the victim.

There are deep-seated
feelings of guilt--

not guilt because the
writer was personally

responsible for
having killed Micki,

but because he was
present when it happened

and wasn't able to stop it.

ROBERT STACK: On
January 13, 1988,

nine years after
Micki's disappearance,

another letter turned up at
a Kansas City Mall theater.

It was addressed to the
police and a local TV station.

Eight months later, a
reporter for the TV station,

Thurman Mitchell,
received a letter

addressed to him personally.

TIMOTHY SCHWEDER:
In this letter,

the author said that if
Thurman would come alone,

he would show him
where Micki Jo West is.

He said that he did
not want the reward,

that he was not
interested in the reward.

He said that he was not
himself involved in the crime,

but that he needed help again.

THURMAN MITCHELL (ON TV):
Because this latest letter

was mailed to the station--

TIMOTHY SCHWEDER: In response
to this letter that Mr. Mitchell

received, he did a
news story asking

this person to come forward
and contact him personally.

THURMAN MITCHELL (ON TV):
--about Micki Jo's death.

We're asking that witness
to call the telephone number

on the screen and talk to us.

And we'll pass that
information on--

ROBERT STACK: An on-air
appeal proved unsuccessful.

Today, the letter writer
remains anonymous.

The case of Micki Jo
West is still unsolved.

The author of these notes
is the most important witness

that we could have in this case.

If he knows where she
is-- if he was there,

and he will testify-- he
is absolutely crucial.

I would just like to
ask him to come forward,

and tell us what he knows.

Or if he doesn't want to come
forward, write us a letter,

and tell us where
she is in the letter.

Or give us a phone call.

Come forward in some way.

We miss Micki.

And it's been nine years.

And we just want to know
what happened to her.

[music playing]

[theme music]

ROBERT STACK: Last month,
we broadcast a story

about Dave Davis from
Pittsford, Michigan-- a man

accused of murdering his wife.

On July the 23rd, 1980,
Davis and his wife Shannon

were horseback riding on their
farm 80 miles outside Detroit.

Davis claims that Shannon
lost control of her horse,

fell, and struck her head.

She was rushed to the
hospital, but doctors

pronounced her dead on arrival.

After a few days,
Shannon's parents

found out that Davis had
taken out six large life

insurance policies on Shannon.

They had their
daughter's body exhumed.

The results showed traces
of an animal tranquilizer,

as well as two injection
marks-- one on her wrist,

and one on her shoulder.

Police found out
that Davis had indeed

had access to the
animal tranquilizer

through a deer hunting group.

Just as his arrest seemed
imminent, Davis fled.

He had not been seen since
October the 13th, 1981.

FBI and different ones had
said, don't discount the fact

that he may already be dead.

But we felt like, no,
he's out there someplace.

He was a rugged
outdoors individual.

He was a survivor.

ROBERT STACK: We broadcast
Davis's story twice.

Within days of our
second broadcast,

Dave Davis was captured.

A viewer identified him as a
man named Davis Myer Bell, who

was living on the tiny island
chain of American Samoa,

2,000 miles south of Hawaii.

Davis, alias Bell, was
arrested three days later.

REPORTER: Any comment on the
charges against you, Mr. Davis?

I didn't do it.

REPORTER: Police say
your wife was poisoned.

I didn't do it.

ROBERT STACK: Police
learned that four years ago,

Davis had fled to
American Samoa,

where he lived in this house.

Before that, he had lived in
Florida, Haiti, and Alaska,

among other places.

Two years ago, he married
a 20-year-old Samoan woman.

He told her that his first wife
had died in a tragic accident.

In American Samoa, Davis
obtained a job as a pilot

for a small commercial airline.

He was apprehended on his
way to work at the airport.

Davis was extradited
to Honolulu, Hawaii.

He admitted his identity and
voluntarily agreed to return

to Michigan to stand trial.

In return, federal
authorities dropped

charges of unlawful flight.

[music playing]

[theme music]

Around the turn of the century,
the streets of New York City

were filled with starving
immigrant children who

had no one to care for them.

The city orphanages overflowed.

School classes
and afternoon naps

often took place outside,
even in the bitter cold.

To alleviate the
crowded conditions,

the Children's Aid
Society of New York

came up with a unique plan.

They began to put
orphans on trains bound

for the South and
the Midwest, hoping

they would be adopted by farm
families along the route.

Between 1890 and
1929, scores of trains

carried at least 150,000 orphans
into the heartland of America.

Sadly, many of
them were separated

from their brothers
and sisters, whom

they would never see again.

In 1910, two brothers
named Algie and Johnny

rode in an orphan train.

Along with a group
of other orphans,

they headed for Arkansas,
hoping to be adopted.

ALGIE BRALY: When we
left New York, none of us

knew where we was going.

But the guy that took us
knew where he was headed for.

Fayetteville was
the destination.

ROBERT STACK: When
Algie and Johnny's train

arrived in
Fayetteville, Arkansas,

prospective parents were waiting
to look the children over.

The brothers hoped they would
be able to stay together.

This stop-- Fayetteville!

ALGIE BRALY: When you
stopped, why, they just

lined us up beside the track.

The one thing I remember, I
just wondered what they was

going to do with me and Johnny.

I had hoped that we'd both
be in some home together.

People commence coming
and look at the kids.

Some of them took them to
make farmers out of them

or slaves out of them.

Some people take them
'cause they loved them.

MAN: How do you like this one?

WOMAN: Oh, I like him.

What's your name?

Algie.

MAN: Algie, you're
going to go with me.

ROBERT STACK: When it came
time to make the decision,

the couple who took Algie
only wanted one child.

ALGIE BRALY: He took me and
didn't want to take Johnny.

Well, they just pulled us apart.

And I just tried,
but I couldn't.

But I just know
they separated us.

One fellow took Johnny,
and one took me.

Finally, oh, it
took me a long time.

I got over that.

But still, it come to my mind
once in a while, where is he?

Hadn't been for the
old man that raised me,

I wouldn't have found--

I know it.

He took me around--

ROBERT STACK: Happily, Algie
and Johnny, the brothers

who were separated when
they rode the orphan train,

have been reunited.

I was treated good.

ROBERT STACK: Tonight, we will
meet two other orphan train

riders, Francis Murphy
and Sylvia Wemhoff,

who have been unable to
find their lost siblings.

In 1921, Sylvia Wemhoff,
whose last name then was Wolk,

was taken out of a New
York City orphanage

to ride an orphan
train to Nebraska.

Her parents were dead, and she
left behind an older sibling

about whom she knew nothing.

Sylvie was three years old.

And the children
on her train had

been selected, sight unseen,
by members of churches

in Columbus, Nebraska.

Sylvia was a very small child
when she rode the orphan train.

She was taken in a bit
of a different manner,

because she was spoken
for ahead of time.

On your papers, there's
a name and a number.

The number will correspond
with the number here.

MARY JOHNSON:
Numbers would be sewn

onto the children's
garments with their name

and the birth date.

The corresponding
matching parent

that had been found and located
by the foundling hospital

would have a number
corresponding to the number.

And when they got to
the train station,

they would match the
number and take the child.

WOMAN: Are you Sylvia?

Would you like to
go home with me?

MARY JOHNSON: And this was the
way Sylvia Wemhoff was chosen.

ROBERT STACK:
Sylvia's last name was

changed to Mick
when she was adopted

by the John Mick family.

They had a small farm
in Lindsay, Nebraska.

And Sylvia, along with
another orphan-- a boy--

was happily welcomed
into the family.

When I was about
17, 18 years old,

and I began to question my
Mother Mick whether I had

any brothers or
sisters, and if so,

I wonder if we could
ever get together.

ROBERT STACK: After
years of searching,

Sylvia located her
birth certificate.

It showed that she was
born Stephanie Wolk,

spelled W-O-L-K,
and that her mother,

Pauline Vitovich from
Austria, already had

a child when Sylvia was born.

Sylvie was adopted when
she was three years old

and today is 70.

She is desperately trying to
locate her missing sibling,

even though there is no way
to tell whether she is looking

for a brother or a sister.

The day after our broadcast,
Sylvia's search came to an end.

She learned that her brother,
72-year-old Joseph Wolk,

was living in New York City.

Wolk's stepdaughter
had seen our broadcast

and recognized the names on
Sylvia's birth certificate.

On September 25,
Sylvia flew to New York

and met her brother
Joseph for the first time.

Joseph!

Your sister Sylvia is here.

How are you doing?

I'm Sylvia.

Sylvia.

I'm so glad.

I'm so happy.

I'm so happy, too, to see you.

We hugged each other.

And we were just really
thrilled and happy that we

finally, finally got together.

I had heard I had a sister.

And I was awfully pleased when I
saw her and thankful-- thankful

to God.

Yes, that's me on there.

ROBERT STACK: Most brothers
and sisters grow up

sharing their lives together.

But for Sylvia and Joseph,
the love and memories

are just beginning.

The next man we will
meet is Francis Murphy.

In 1928, when he was 11, he
too rode the orphan train.

His baby sister,
Margaret, and his mother,

who was too poor to take care
of him, were both left behind.

FRANCIS MURPHY: When
I got on the train,

I didn't really feel
that I was being

wrenched away from somebody.

I didn't know that
much about my mother,

so that it wasn't a matter
of tearing me away from her,

because I was away from
her all the time anyway.

It was a big adventure
more than anything else.

As a kid in New York,
you have to remember

that we didn't know the West.

And what we knew
was from the picture

shows we saw of cowboys and
Indians and maybe engineers.

And going that
direction-- well, that

was the biggest thrill
that a kid in my time

could really expect.

ROBERT STACK:
Francis's excitement

soon turned to sadness.

[inaudible]

Hello, I'm Camille Mitchell
of the Children's Aid Society.

I brought your boy.

ROBERT STACK: At
stop after stop,

potential adoptive parents
would be waiting to pick

their child from the crowd.

But not all the children
found new parents.

Can I get your
signature please?

Okay.

ROBERT STACK: Francis, who had
boarded the train in New York

with such high hopes,
began to realize

that none of the families along
the train's route wanted him.

CAMILLE MITCHELL: This
is your son, Luke.

MAN: Hi, Luke.

Welcome to our family.

14 or 15 children
that were leaving.

And you got off the train
with their belongings.

And they told me, Francis,
you should stay on the train.

MARY JOHNSON: And he would
see the crowd get smaller

and smaller until finally
he was the only child left

on the train.
- Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Bye!

All aboard!

That's right, son.

[train horn blowing]

ROBERT STACK: Francis
never was adopted.

He went from family to
family as a foster child.

In spite of his early hardships,
Francis's life turned out well.

He became a high school
teacher, married, and had five

children and six grandchildren.

Francis Murphy, who rode the
orphan train 60 years ago,

developed heart disease in 1987.

And sadly, he died
soon after we filmed

his interview in November.

Francis's wife and family
have continued his search,

and they asked that we present
his story, despite the fact

that he is gone.

They hope to unite the family
who still loves Francis

with the family he
never knew and wanted

so desperately to find.

It was extremely
important to Francis

to go ahead with this interview.

He had been looking forward
to it for literally months.

And just the hope that he would
find somebody, particularly

his sister, was important.

He didn't know much
about love growing up.

And he found out as he got older
and had a family of his own.

I think his finding
Margaret would

be an extension of that love.

It's still very
important to us that we

finish what he tried to do.

ROBERT STACK: Francis Murphy's
sister, Margaret, would

be about 62 years old today.

She was probably born in either
Yonkers or New York City,

and she may have been adopted.

Francis and Margaret's mother
was Hilda Harding Murphy.

Their grandparents
were John and Elizabeth

Harding from Nova Scotia.

Francis's father
was Martin Murphy.

[theme music]

These are affidavits from police
departments around the country,

attesting to Dorothy
Allison's psychic powers.

The use of psychics
in police work

is almost always controversial.

Frequently, they're inaccurate.

All too often, they
are charlatans.

But there are a
few who do, indeed,

seem to have a special gift--
the unexplainable ability

to predict details still
locked in the future,

an ability which, in itself,
is an unsolved mystery.

On December 3, 1967,
five-year-old Michael

Kurcsics and his
older brother went

out to play at around 8:15 AM.

As they were playing,
Michael lost his footing,

fell into a churning river,
was swept away, and drowned.

Two hours before Michael's
accident, at 5:56 AM,

Dorothy Allison awoke
from a horrific nightmare.

Her lucid and frightening dream
predicted Michael's death.

DOROTHY ALLISON: I saw
this little boy in a pipe.

His hands were like
this in the dream.

They were clasped together,
and they were very black.

I didn't know why they were so
black, because he was so white.

I saw this tremendous
illumination of light,

almost as though he had been in,
it seemed to me, like a vacuum.

ROBERT STACK: For weeks, the
authorities searched the river.

But there was no trace
of Michael's body.

A month after
Michael disappeared,

Dorothy went to the police
and insisted that someone

listen to her story.

I had a dream of this
little boy stuck in a pipe.

ROBERT STACK: The
one brief newspaper

article about the case did not
contain a picture of Michael.

The police were startled when
Dorothy accurately described

the clothes he was wearing.

DOROTHY ALLISON: He had
on this green snowsuit.

Underneath the snowsuit,
he had on a polo shirt

with the stripes.

And underneath
that, an undershirt

with a medal pinned to it.

And also, he had his
shoes on the wrong feet.

MAN: There was a
possibility that this

could have been a hoax.

There's always that possibility.

When she came up with
this description,

I became overwhelmed,
because I knew this boy.

I knew this family.

It just got me to a point
where I had to know more

about what she was dreaming.

Maybe there was something more
that she couldn't remember now.

Maybe just questioning her
would bring more of it out.

But we were going to work
with her, because she got me.

She just got me.

When I started to talk
to Don, I kept telling him

that I saw the number 120,
but whatever that meant,

I don't know.

I also saw the number
eight and didn't

know what that meant either.

And I kept insisting
that his body would

be found behind the school.

I insisted on that.

ROBERT STACK: As the search
for Michael continued,

Dorothy's clues
began to mount up--

the number eight, the school,
the parking lot behind an ITT

factory, lumber, gold
lettering on a window,

and the number 120.

MAN: She had mentioned a
number 120 the very first day

that we were together.

And we thought, well,
maybe it's an address.

And in the area that we were
in initially, there was no 120.

Then we thought, well, maybe
would be January 20-- the month

and the day.

That came and went.

No significance whatsoever,
but that 120 kept coming up--

and to me, especially, and
I couldn't understand why.

By now, they were starting
to lose their patience.

And Don [inaudible]
says, my god, I'm trying,

but I don't know
what you're saying.

I said, well, look, he will
be found on February 7.

And then our troubles
will be over.

You will know the story
of Michael Kurcsics.

The day the boy
was found, it was

1:20 in the afternoon
of February 7

that I was told that
the baby was found.

ROBERT STACK: The spot
where Michael's body

was found coincided with
several of Dorothy's clues.

Dorothy's vision of a number
eight was echoed by the fact

that Elementary School PS 8
stands on the riverbank nearby.

Across the street
is a lumberyard.

Next door is an office
building with gold letters

on the window.

Directly across the
river is a local ITT

factory and its parking lot.

And when Michael
was found, he was

wearing exactly the same
clothes that Dorothy had dreamt.

And although his galoshes
were on the correct feet,

his undershoes were
indeed on the wrong feet.

We backtracked.

And everything that
she was saying now

fit into place,
just like a puzzle.

You pick up a piece, and
you toss it around until you

link it and show the picture.

It means nothing.

But now, everything
seemed to fit in place.

And we started-- I started to
kick myself for not knowing

what she was talking about.

There have been
many, many times

that I struck out completely.

And I really wanted to find
the child and got no answers.

Till today, I don't know why.

But there are several
cases where I never

come up with anything, not even
one little clue that I know of.

ROBERT STACK: Dorothy Allison
has lived in New Jersey

all her life.

She has four children,
and her husband, Bob,

is an engineer
for a construction

company in Manhattan.

When Dorothy was 14, she
had the first indication

of her psychic abilities,
when she correctly predicted

the death of her father.

Since the Michael
Kurcsics investigation,

most of Dorothy's cases
have been homicides.

Many of the victims
have been children.

DOROTHY ALLISON: I've
often thought to myself,

why does this happen to me?

Why not somebody else?

Because it has been very hard
on me emotionally, physically.

And it has not been a happy
thing for me at all times.

ROBERT STACK: On
December 20, 1974,

a New York banker--
John DeMars--

left his Manhattan
office to ride

the train home to New Jersey.

He was happily married
with two young children

and habitually called
his wife if he was going

to be even five minutes late.

But on this day, when his
train stopped at Nutley,

John DeMars was not on board.

He had simply vanished.

SAL LUBERTAZZI:
Our first thoughts

were maybe he embezzled money.

But we didn't find anything
wrong with the bank.

Maybe he ran away
with another girl.

We found out that
that wasn't true.

We just couldn't
find this fella,

so I went to see Dorothy.

I said, Dorothy, I'm looking
for a male adult that's been

missing for more than 24 hours.

Her first words were to
me was, he's drowned.

I said, he fell off the train.

He said, how could he fall
off the train in the water?

I says, nope.

I said, you received
misinformation.

He fell off the train.

He's in water.

So I says, well, can you
give me any other clues

as to where I would find Him

I said, I see a row of tires,
a little park where children

go down a hill on their sleds.

I see a fire engine
that children play on.

And I see this man
in this water here.

Then she told me that
she sees a bow and arrow.

Now, where do you
find a bow and arrow?

I thought she was crazy.

Hey, good job.

ROBERT STACK: Two months after
the disappearance, a father

and his teenage son
were target shooting

with a bow and arrow on a bluff
overlooking the Passaic River.

One of the arrows
missed the target

and landed a few feet from
the body of John DeMars.

The body was found
on February 22.

Dorothy had mentioned
the number 222.

Nearby was a park
where rows of tires

had been arranged
to make a sled run.

The question remained-- how did
John DeMars, a train passenger,

drown in the Passaic River?

The authorities
theorize that DeMars

dozed off on the way home.

The train made an
unscheduled stop

on the Passaic River Bridge.

The conductor opened the
doors to let another passenger

off the back of the train.

John DeMars, still
half asleep, thought

he had reached his station.

He stepped out into space and
fell into the river below.

Chills go up and
down your spine.

Believe me.

You look around.

You look at your notebook.

All these notes that you
wrote down three months ago,

and everything that she
had said was exactly there.

Everything that she had said.

How Dorothy can
do these things--

I don't understand psychics.

I don't know how
Dorothy's mind works.

All I know, if Dorothy
told me, Ellen,

go outside and cross
the street, I would

go out and cross the street.

Because I don't know
what she's seeing for me.

ROBERT STACK: Ellen
Jacobson and her husband,

Bill, became
involved with Dorothy

after their daughter
disappeared from home in 1976.

On May 15, 14-year-old
Susan Jacobson

left her Staten Island
home to interview for a job

at a local ice cream parlor.

When Susan didn't
return for dinner,

her parents
contacted the police.

BILL JACOBSON: We were basically
told that our daughter was 14,

she had a boyfriend,
and she ran away.

Point-blank, that was it.

And there's nothing they can
do, because if she ran away,

they don't have manpower to go
and look for 14-year-old girls

who run away.

So we had nothing.

ROBERT STACK: Two weeks
later, the Jacobsons

asked Dorothy to help.

She immediately went to Staten
Island with her husband, Bob.

Dorothy knew nothing
about the case

and had never met the Jacobsons.

ELLEN JACOBSON: When Dorothy
came, she was so down to earth,

it was impossible to believe.

I had visions of,
oh, a gypsy woman.

I had some visions of somebody
laying out a deck of cards

and reading cards to
me or reading my hand.

And Dorothy's first
reaction when I came in

is, where's the coffee?

Put the coffee pot on.

Ellen, what does
2562 mean to you?

ELLEN JACOBSON: She
immediately asked me what

the number 2562 would mean.

And I said, well, I could
turn it into February 5, 1962.

I said, that's my
daughter's birthday.

She said to me, how
about the number 408?

What does that mean?
I'm in total shock.

I don't know what
she's looking for.

I said, 408.
She said, maybe it's 405.

I said, my daughter
Susan was born that time.

She said, what's "mar"?

I said, excuse me She
says, what's "mar" mean?

I said, what do you mean, "mar"?

She says, M-A-R. I
want to see M-A-R.

And I said, please, let's
go to the police department,

because the vision that I got
right then and there was that

her daughter had been strangled
by the boyfriend and that

she was at this
place with this big

M-A-R written in red letters.

So I went to the
police department

and tried to explain,
but to no avail.

ROBERT STACK: The
authorities were

unwilling to work
with a psychic,

so Bill Jacobson
decided to investigate

the many clues that Dorothy
had come up with on his own.

BILL JACOBSON: It was an
abandoned car, the letters

M-A-R, smell of oil, two
sets of dual church steeples,

dual smokestacks,
swamps, marshes.

We searched the vast
amount of Staten Island.

And the confusion of it
is that you don't know

distance and time, and you can't
tell past, present, and future.

Eventually, we got into a
place that is called Downback.

In this area is an
abandoned shipyard

that was apparently
active in World War I,

and we found a rock.

And on this rock were painted,
in red letters, the letters

M-A-R. All the clues that
she had given me helped me

by way of getting me
to the area of ground

where Susan was
eventually found.

When I saw the M-A-R,
I was astounded.

And I felt it had
to be the area.

Have to call Dorothy.

Have to get her over here.

Have to show her what I found.

When Dorothy saw the M-A-R on
a rock, she said, this is it.

This is where your daughter is.

Now we need the cops.

We need the dogs.

We need the bloodhounds.

We need to drag through
the swamps and the marshes.

But we had none of that.

We searched as much as
we could by ourselves.

We felt that we had
done a good search.

Unfortunately, we never
found my daughter.

ROBERT STACK: 22 months
later, three boys

were out muskrat hunting
in the precise area

where Bill had
searched, just 100

yards from the M-A-R letters.

They discovered the
remains of Susan Jacobson,

concealed in two oil drums.

BILL JACOBSON: From the
place where Susan was found,

you could see-- almost
all at the same time--

dual church steeples, the
smokestacks, the abandoned car,

the rock with the letters M-A-R.
Susan was found in an oil drum,

which is a smell of oil.

And Dorothy had also said
that Susan was in water,

but she didn't drown.

ROBERT STACK: The autopsy
revealed that Susan had been

strangled and her body
dumped at the bottom

of the water-filled hole.

Dempsey Hawkins,
Susan's boyfriend,

was arrested, tried, and
convicted of her murder.

ELLEN JACOBSON: Dorothy knew
that my daughter was murdered.

She admitted to us, maybe nine
months after my daughter's

disappearance, to the fact
that who did the murder,

she named the person to us.

And everything that she said--
she said how she was murdered

and where-- and what
Dorothy said came true.

In the three
cases we have seen,

Dorothy's success
has been astonishing.

But keep in mind
that over the years,

Dorothy has worked on
hundreds of investigations

And in many, she was unable
to come up with information

that helped the authorities.

In a moment, we'll follow
Dorothy on a current murder

investigation to see
exactly what she does

and how she does it.

Last March, we looked for a case
where we could examine Dorothy

Allison's psychic gifts.

We found a homicide in
Hagerstown, Maryland,

where the police
are at a dead end.

They agreed we could ask Dorothy
to assist on the case and film

the investigation
as it happened.

As you'll see, Dorothy
came up with the name

of a possible suspect.

But for legal reasons, we have
chosen to disguise this name.

We gave Dorothy absolutely
no information on the case.

She didn't know the name
of the victim or the state

where it happened.

She didn't even know
it was a murder case.

Dorothy was contacted by
Sergeant Keith Wattenschaidt

of the Maryland State
Police, who was in charge

of the ongoing investigation.

DOROTHY ALLISON
(ON PHONE): Hello?

KEITH WATTENSCHAIDT (ON
PHONE): Mrs. Allison?

Yes.

KEITH WATTENSCHAIDT (ON
PHONE): How are you?

Fine, thank you.
How are you?

ROBERT STACK: Knowing absolutely
nothing about the case,

Dorothy drew up a list
of clues the night

before Detective
Wattenschaidt's call

and then dictated the list
in several conversations

the next day.

DOROTHY ALLISON (ON
PHONE): What we should

do is be looking for
a janitor in a school,

somebody that worked
in school as a janitor.

I feel this was some kind of
kidnap, abduction of some kind

or something like that.

I also feel that I'm
dealing with a suspect

who has suicidal tendencies and
something wrong with the feet.

The numbers one and seven
were very important.

Whether it's 71 or 17,
I don't know just yet.

ROBERT STACK: The clues
were random images that

might relate to the
victim, the murder,

friends, or even the police.

DOROTHY ALLISON (ON
PHONE): I feel also

that this person wears
glasses and sometimes a wig

to look different.

A wig?

DOROTHY ALLISON (ON PHONE): Yes.

Uh-huh.

When I was talking to
Dorothy on the telephone,

she mentioned about
a police officer,

possibly in disguise, wearing a
beard that he now doesn't have

and a wig or hairpiece
of that nature.

That kind of keyed upon me,
because I'm a policeman.

I don't feel I'm in disguise.

But I am in plainclothes.

I wear a hairpiece.

And I just took a
beard off two days ago.

I was on vacation.

And she could have been keying
in on me, which is possible.

ROBERT STACK: Dorothy
flew to Hagerstown

with her husband, Bob, to meet
with Detective Wattenschaidt.

Immediately after
they landed, Dorothy

had a name for the authorities.

DOROTHY ALLISON: I've got--

Mrs. Allison, how are you?

DOROTHY ALLISON: How are you?

I'm Sergeant Wattenschaidt.
of the state police.

- I know.
- How was your flight?

Great.

Listen, I wrote
some notes for you.

KEITH WATTENSCHAIDT: Did you
come up with anything else?

Yeah, well, I have
a name here for you.

KEITH WATTENSCHAIDT:
Beautiful, beautiful.

OK.

And I also have some
other things that I got.

It's kind of scribbled.

But there's a name for you, OK?

It's either-- Chuck
is a nickname.

And then it's either Bernstein
or Goldstein-- the last name.

Uh-huh, the last name.

When it comes to psychics,
if you looked at them

in a general sense, I
would tell you I think

they're a bunch of baloney.

But I'm keeping an open mind
towards Dorothy Allison,

because I want to solve
this case very badly.

ROBERT STACK: For
four years, police

have been unable to solve
the case of Lori Zimmerman,

a 15-year-old schoolgirl,
who, in April 1984,

left her aunt's house
and simply disappeared.

Eight days later, Lori's
partially naked body was found

in the forest 12 miles away.

She had been beaten
and suffocated.

The coroner found a foreign
object lodged in her throat .

DOROTHY ALLISON: I feel that
she was in front of a library

when she met these two
brothers or two cousins

or twin friends of hers right
from her own neighborhood.

She did meet somebody there.

Their name could be [bleep].

ROBERT STACK: Within minutes
of leaving the airport,

more thoughts and images
flooded Dorothy's mind.

DOROTHY ALLISON: I
feel that she had

been raped and then murdered.

KEITH WATTENSCHAIDT: Uh-huh.

I know that if I had to
see her, I don't know why,

but I get a feeling
she has something

the matter with her head,
as though somebody hit her

with something near her head.

I'm getting something
on the head.

MAN: Her jaw was
broke in two places.

But that, of course,
wasn't the cause of death.

I get more of a
suffocation feeling.

I know I can't breathe.

There's something hot.

Whatever it is, I feel a lot
of heat around this girl.

Tremendous amounts of heat.

No, I think I'm
getting a feeling

of what actually-- There's a
choking going on in her throat,

too.

KEITH WATTENSCHAIDT: Uh-huh.

She's choking on something.

And this is during the attack,
you know, that she is choking.

I think you know what I'm
getting at, don't you?

KEITH WATTENSCHAIDT: Not
as a force on the throat,

but it's more of a
choking technique.

Exactly.

As though you were gurgling
on something, right?

That type of
situation, I'm getting.

KEITH WATTENSCHAIDT:
There's no way

that Dorothy Allison would
have known about an object

being in the victim's throat.

She related that it
didn't seem to her

to be a choking of the
hands around a throat,

but as a choking of
some type of object down

inside the victim's throat.

And I was very surprised
that she keyed in on this,

because this is a point
in the investigation

that we did not make public.

She definitely, absolutely
walked down the street.

And she goes as
far as the library.

And then she is picked
up in this yellow car

that I described to
you-- a real old car.

KEITH WATTENSCHAIDT: Uh-huh.

Well, here's the library
right here on the left.

ROBERT STACK: After 24
hours in Hagerstown,

Dorothy had come
up with literally

dozens of possible clues.

Many seemed unrelated
to the case.

Others would seem misdirected--
Keith Wattenschaidt's

hairpiece, for instance.

And the janitor Dorothy
mentioned may have been Lori's

stepfather-- not a suspect.

The individual she named at
the airport-- Chuck Goldstein

or Bernstein-- is
also not a suspect,

though, according to Dorothy,
he may have some information.

But some of Dorothy's clues did
seem connected to the crime.

For example, Dorothy had seen
the numbers one and seven.

She learned that Lori
had been laid to rest

at the cemetery in plot 17.

Dorothy had mentioned
the name Cleveland.

The last street sign before the
crime scene was at a turnoff

called Cleveland Town Road.

Dorothy had talked
about an old church.

Half a mile from where
the body was found,

there was indeed an old church.

All these clues might
be coincidences,

but they might also be part of
a mosaic that, once assembled,

will create a picture of what
happened to Lori Zimmerman.

KEITH WATTENSCHAIDT: The
people who found the body--

they were coming back--

ROBERT STACK: At
the crime scene,

Dorothy experienced
the strongest

sensation that she'd felt
during the entire investigation.

But as far as
that name [bleep],

I feel that-- I feel
him stronger than

anybody right now in this area.

I feel that he's the one
who took the girl here.

And the reason he
murdered her was

because she was
reluctant to let him

do whatever he wanted to do.

So she screamed out
loud, and he panicked.

And I believe that he hit
her on the head-- you know,

the head area.

I believe that he
killed her that way.

But I do believe that
[bleep] is the man

that murdered this girl.

And I think you should
start looking for him.

KEITH WATTENSCHAIDT: OK.

In fact, I'd be positive
that he is the one.

Detective
Wattenschaidt has run

the name that Dorothy mentioned
through the police computers.

But there are no known
suspects by that name.

In total, she came up
with 50 different clues.

Only when the crime
is solved will

we know how many of
Dorothy's visions

are really connected to the
murder of Lori Zimmerman.

[theme music]

For every mystery,
there is someone

somewhere who knows the truth.

Perhaps that
someone is watching.

Perhaps it's you.

[theme music]